The Origins of Platypus
by cedricnovak
Summary: Little archangel Gabriel was bored. So he invented a new animal that made everyone in Heaven worried..


"Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad," Gabriel pestered, pulling on God's robe. The young archangel had escaped the watchful eyes of his older brothers and went to bother his Father.

"Gabe, stop, I'm working," God replied, rubbing a hand down his face. He laid a hand on top of Gabriel's head, trying to make him calm down by shear will alone.

Gabriel pouted. "I want to make something, too!" he whined. The little brat would never leave Him alone if He denied him.

God sighed and threw the extra parts on his desk into a box. "Here's a box of parts, go nuts."

"Awesome! Thanks, Dad!" He ran off, box secured in his hands.

Gabriel sat in his room and dumped the parts out onto the ground. He started putting the various parts together, making a new animal. His tongue stuck out of his mouth in concentration.

A few hours later, God realized that he gave Gabriel parts that should not go together. "Oh no. Gabe?" he yelled. "Where are you, my son?"

Footsteps echoed from down the hallway. Gabriel's small form rounded the corner with a weird brown thing cradled in his hands. It had a dark duck bill, otter feet, a beaver tail, and waterproof fur. Gabe had made a female and God could tell it was a mammal, but was that...yes, there was an egg inside. The male within the egg had a venomous spur on its hind foot.

"What the fuck is that?"

Gabriel beamed and held up the thing. "A platypus!" God rubbed His temples. "Can we keep it, Dad, please?" the small angel begged.

God groaned. He couldn't throw it out. His son made it. But...it was weird. "N—you know what, yeah, sure." Whatever. Future humans would just think it was a bizarre animal.. which is was. "Just—just put it in Australia with the other uh things, okay." Australia seemed to be where He put the more creative animals.

Gabriel's eyes lit up and he jumped up and down, holding the animal above his head. "Yay!" He started running away. "Thank you, Dad!"

"I need a day off," God mumbled, returning to his workshop.

* * *

"It's a what?" asked Raphael, his nose scrunching up in distaste as he stared at the creature.

"No, it's not a 'what'," said Gabriel, "a platypus."

"Play-tey-pos," Raphael repeated, testing each syllable on his tongue.

"That's weird."

Gabriel scowled at him. "You're weird."

"Is it supposed to be doing something?" inquired Lucifer, tilting his head to one side.

"Yeah, it's not moving," agreed Raphael. "Maybe it's dead."

"It's not dead!" cried Gabriel defensively. He kneeled down next to the creature and began petting its head. The platypus made a rumbling noise from the back of its throat and Gabriel grinned triumphantly. "Ha."

"It's still boring," scoffed Raphael. "It doesn't look like it can kill anything."

"Not everything has to be violent, Raphy!"

"Only the cool stuff is," muttered Raphael under his breath, rolling his eyes.

"You're just jealous that Father let me make a creature and he didn't let you!" the smallest Archangel snapped back.

Raphael flushed. "Nu-uh!"

"Yeah-huh!"

"Nu-uh!"

"Yeah-huh!"

"Would you all kindly SHUT UP?!" shouted Michael from across the room.

The eldest Archangel had been cataloging various creatures for the past few days, deciding what kind of habitat and ecosystem they were supposed to be in via their Father's instructions. However, his instructions were usually very vague, and now was not an exception. Michael was incredibly stressed because of this and the bickering of his younger brothers was not helping.

"Sorry, Mikey," chorused Gabriel and Raphael.

Gabriel went back to petting the platypus. Raphael stared at it thoughtfully.

"You should make it breathe fire," suggested Raphael.

"No, Raphy, I made it, I decide what it does!" said Gabriel firmly, hugging the Platypus to his chest protectively.

As they started to argue again, Lucifer glided over to Michael, who was starting at a scroll in confusion.

"Is Father suggesting that dinosaurs and birds are the same species? Does that mean reptiles are supposed to have wings?" thought Michael out loud, turning to his brother. The blond shrugged in response.

"Maybe we should make a reptile that has wings," suggested Lucifer.

"And breathes fire!" voiced Raphael from across the room.

Gabriel made a high-pitched noise of protest and flew over to his older brothers, the platypus still in his arms.

"Mikey, Raphy keeps trying to steal my platypus!"

"Am not!" cried Raphael in defense.

"Play-tey-pos?" repeated Michael, raising an eyebrow at Lucifer.

"I named it myself!" said Gabriel proudly.

"And he made it, too," Lucifer added, amusement hidden in the undertones of his voice.

Gabriel nodded excitedly. "Father said I could make whatever I wanted from the bunch of parts he had left over and look!" He stood on his toes and held up the platypus so Michael could see.

"Isn't it neat?"

"Yes," said Michael slowly, leaning down to scrutinize the small creature.

"Good job, Gabriel."

Beaming at his eldest brother's approval, Gabriel turned and stuck out his tongue at Raphael.

"It's a duck, beaver, and mink," Michael whispered to Lucifer. "What am I supposed to do with that?"

"Just put it where you're putting everything else that's out of the ordinary," Lucifer whispered back.

Both angels shared a look before agreeing together, "Australia."


End file.
